Video | Mix and Match, Blue and White

The diversity found in blue and white ceramics is staggering; from telling tales through dinner patterns to the art of Hugo Kaagsman.

An introduction to New Blue and White, an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Raed Yassin winner of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2012 talks about his work titled China – 7 Porcelain Vases. Lebanon has long struggled to come to terms with the aftermath of its civil war (1975-1990). In an attempt to formulate the cycle of this unaccounted history, Raed Yassin has chosen an unorthodox and innovative way of attempting to represent — ‘frieze’ as it were – important historical events of Lebanese contemporary history. In China he shows seven Chinese porcelain vases, produced at Jingdezhen — China’s capital of porcelain. Depicting key battles of the Lebanese civil war. They echo the ancient tradition of recording victories at battle on vases and ceramics for the sake of posterity, as well as a domestic decorative readymade that can easily be found in any Lebanese home. The circularity of the vases hint at an impossibility of closure; reflecting the unresolved situation in present-day Lebanon. An artist and musician, Yassin’s work often originates from an examination of his personal narratives and their position within a collective history, through the lens of consumer culture and mass production. He has exhibited and performed his work in numerous museums, festivals and venues across Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Japan. He is also a founding member of Atfal Ahdath a Beirut based art collective and his artwork is represented by Kalfayan Galleries, Athens/Thessaloniki. He currently lives and works in Beirut.

In the fast-paced, mad world of antique ceramic sales, Qing Dynasty vases are the equivalent of grade A heroin. Their decorations are so minute and delicate that they sell for hundreds of millions of dollars, the highest being 69$ million USD. Given how precious they are, one would think that a museum displaying such irreplaceable artifacts, would in fact, protect them from the clumsy pedestrians who saunter into the museum looking for a little cultural enlightenment. Nick Flynn found out the hard way upon his first visit to the Fitzwilliam. Upon realizing he was going the wrong way up a flight of stairs, he quickly turned around, tripped on his shoelaces, fell down 20 stairs and smashed into 3 Qing Dynasty vases precariously perched on a window sill. He walked away unharmed, confused, light headed and meandered home with a shattered ego. He told no one… but was arrested 3 months later for criminal damage after finally being identified from security footage. Miraculously, the vases have all been glued back together but it turns out comedic fluke is priceless, as the vases were all uninsured.

This vase was intended for the one I love. I bought it for her whilst I was away on business, she always had a weakness for Jingdezhen style ceramics, although I never had the chance to buy her an authentic one. We would make do on the modest living I earned, I worked in sales moving from town to town. When it’s dry it’s bad but when it’s going good, I can cancel out the bad spells of sales. I remember on this particular occasion, I was far from home for a long time. To make it up to her I had bought her little gifts from the various places I visited, when I saw this vase I knew she would appreciate the priceless sentiment behind it despite the cheap price tag. But she didn’t. Far from it. I discovered the cheeky bitch was screwing every man in the neighborhood whilst I was away working to put food on our tables. I never did find out if she liked the vase. But as I burnt her body and filled the vase with her ashes I thought she would appreciate the fact that the butterflies would come to visit her.

When I was a student at Kyoto University of Arts, I created the tattoo T shirt. This was a sudden cast of some outlaw patterns to the elegant fashion world. I was never satisfied to the Bauhaus-influenced good design, and wanted to mix in some street design, and play a prank. I always thought there could be some so called ‘bad design’ in the market, as well as all the ‘Good designs’. These were my feelings which led to the creation of the Imari. The story behind this Imari, is a imaginative tattoo artist of Edo who reached the village of Imari, and met a potter of Imari. If this really happened, they surely would have hit it off with each other. Skull designs are popular all over the world, but why isn’t there a Japanese version? why not a Ukiyoe-style? Anyhow, I hope you enjoy some of the prank in this work.

Part of a series of interviews with students of the Ceramics Department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, the Netherlands about their experiences and work in Jingdezhen, China

Short movie about most expensive Ming vases found on Sotheby’s, Christie’s and other fine arts auction house’s sites online that were downloaded, printed on regular a4 paper and assembled into fragile sculptures, wrapped up ready to be shipped to another continent. The video is incarnation of the spirit of the record-breaking Ming Vase, a superb blue and white meiping from the Yongle Imperial Period, which Sotheby’s international head of Chinese ceramics and works of art Nicolas Chow vividly describes as “macho” in reference to its atypically un-waisted broad shouldered shape. Exploring the The China Factor as a current cause of Westen art market instability, the ghetto boys bring their Alpha and Revenge of Koons over China, while every violent act they perform is celebrated by cathastropic soundtrack.

Making of a Blueware Vase from Glithero. Glithero’s Blueware vases are the result of a process that captures direct impressions of botanical specimens on ceramics using light and photo sensitive chemicals. Using age-old preserving techniques, humble weeds of inner London borough pavements are pressed, dried and then composed between plates of glass that function like photographic negatives. Working with light sensitive chemicals, the plates and tiles are then exposed under ultra violet light, which develops a photogram of the specimens in intense Prussian blue. What remains is a crisp white silhouette of the specimens, creating intricate floral designs of the subjects from root to tip. This film shows the pressed designs incorporated into a vase. Song credits: Shadow Journal by Max Richter

Animation for Garden Greats’ exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre of Visual Arts, Norwich. (2007) This animation tells the story behind the famous Willow Pattern design.

Quirky Pictures led a workshop for Creative Junction at the Great Missenden CofE Combined School. Our young and enthusiastic animators created short animations based on tales from around the World. Year 1, 2011, Teachers Mala Close and Kate Wilson and Creative Agent, Natalie Chambers.

This is a story about an ancient Chinese woman who waited for her husband to come home from war. Made with a Canon 550D, marker, and Adobe Premiere. Music by Jay Chou, Blue and White Porcelain’.

Part 1 or 3. Paul Scott, artist and author, provides a guide to transferring graphic images onto ceramics, employing various techniques suitable for home and studio use. Produced to support the exhibition The Plate Show that was originated and toured by the Collins Gallery 1999-2000.

Part 2 of 3 of an interview and demonstration by artist and author Paul Scott.

Part 3 of 3 of an interview and demonstration by artist and author Paul Scott.

Stencil painted tailfins for Boeings of British Airways, 1996. A project to show World Art on airplanes as part of a new corporate identity, see Margaret Thatcher’s reaction.

A fashion presentation in the Delft booth at the China Jingdezhen International Ceramic Art Fair, Hugo Kaagman’s ceramic work and fashion, made in China, October 2012.

A video collage of Delft Blue work by Hugo Kaagman.

The art work on the electricity boiler house in Enschede by Hugo Kaagman for Cie Architects and Essent which was completed in February 2010. A Delftblue temple consisting of 1300 square meter panels.

Charming lyrics for this Chinese song, Blue and White.

Jay Chou performing his hit, Qing Hua Ci Live.